Pirelli renews F1 quit threat

'Discussions about testing for next year will certainly be beneficial for whoever the tyre supplier is in the future' - Ross Brawn

Jun.8 (GMM) Rumours that Pirelli will leave Formula One at the end of the season are growing by the day.

Heavily criticised for its 2013 tyres, and now embroiled in 'testgate', the Italian supplier is also unhappy with F1's tight testing limits and the obstacles to tyre specification tweaks being erected by the teams.

Facing the wrath of the FIA's new international tribunal for accepting Pirelli's invitation of a private test at Barcelona recently, Mercedes' team boss Ross Brawn on Friday sounded uncertain Pirelli will still be in F1 in 2014.

"Discussions about testing for next year will certainly be beneficial for whoever the tyre supplier is in the future," he said.

Italy's La Repubblica said Paul Hembery repeated Pirelli's recent quit threat on Friday, "if we are unable to do some tests with the new tyres before the start of the season".

"We cannot continue to work in the dark," he added. "By September first we need to provide the specifications for next year, but we don't even know what the cars are going to be like.